266 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



I think has really no existence, except in the brain of some 

 men ; or it may be a condition confoundecl Avith Typhus 

 Contagiosus Bourn. The disease is described as being 

 similar to glanders in the horse. If this be the case, the 

 disease is not properly named ; for the frontal sinuses are 

 not the- seat of the disease. This multiplication of names 

 of diseases is only calculated to puzzle people, and annoy 

 the farmer. Further than this, I have so little patience 

 with the writers who thus manifest their ignorance of the 

 first principles of pathology — to which all Avritings and 

 opinions should be subservient — that I feel it my duty to 

 denounce them unsparingly whenever opportunity offers. 



Cattle Plague. — This is a vague name, and conveys 

 no intimation of the cause, nature, seat, or characteristics 

 of the affection, whatever it may be. Therefore, for the 

 credit of the writer and the convenience of the public, no 

 disease should be called a plague. There is now no disease 

 affecting the human family called a plague. The experi- 

 enced physician can tell the nature, seat and complete 

 history of the disease, and gives it a name by which it will 

 be known and recognized. Why should not the veterinary 

 surgeon do likewise ? 



So long as such men as Gamgee continue to write and 

 speak of cattle plagues, so long will veterinary surgeons 

 continue to labor in vain for the public confidence. Why 

 should not things, states and conditions be called by their 

 right names? Cattle disease, cattle plague and rinderpest 

 should long ago have been blotted from the books ; for, at 

 best, they only serve as a cloak or cover to hide the innate 

 ignorance and stupidity of some veterinary surgeons — 

 horse and cow doctors particularly. The word plague 

 means a stroke, and that is all the insight a person can 



